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 拉丁语 外语

M. TULLII CICERONIS
ORATIO IN L. CATILINAM
PRIMA.
HABITA IN SENATU.

The first oration of M. T. Cicero against Lucius Catilina.
Delivered in the Senate.

First Oration 01

Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata jactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palatii, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora vultusque moverunt. Patere tua consilia non sentis? Constrictam omnium horum scientia teneri conjurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris?

When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us?  When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now? Do not the night guards placed on the Palatine Hill -- do not the watches posted throughout the city—does not the alarm of the people, and the union of all good men -- does not the precaution taken of assembling the senate in this most defensible place -- do not the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, have any effect upon you?


Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?

“How far, then, Catiline, will you trample upon our patience?”

The abrupt opening of the speech shows the feelings of the orator whose indignation was naturally aroused when the conspirator dared to appear in the Senate after being declared a public enemy (hostis patriae).

—tandem: “pray:” cp. δῆτα. —abutere: a future, as shown by eludet, jactabit. Cicero prefers the more poetic termination -re to -ris in the imperf. and fut. indic. and in the pres. and impf. subj. pass. In the pres. indic. he rarely uses it. Madvig. § 114.6.

—nostra: Cicero includes the Senators and Consuls.

Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus eludet? (Quem ad finem sese effrenata jactabit audacia? )

How long is that madness of yours still to mock us?(When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now?)

etiam: “still,” belongs to quamdiu.

furor iste: note the energy imparted by personifying furor and audacia. —iste is strictly a pronoun demonstrative of the second person: iste locus, “the place where you are standing:” ista verba: “the words you utter.” It often had a contemptuous meaning in Cicero’s orations.

eludet: “will turn us into mockery:” a gladiatorial term of avoiding a thrust by the rapid movement of the body: hence, to baffle, deceive, and, as here, to mock.

 

Quem ad finem sese effrenata jactabit audacia?

to what length will your unbridled audacity proceed?”

—quem ad finem = quousque or quamdiu. According to Schultz quousque puts the more general question of time and degree: quamdiu, the more special question, of time only: quem ad finem: of degree only.

jactabit = insolenter se efferet: se jactare, “to toss the head contemptuously,” “to walk with a conceited swing.”

 

Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palatii, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora vultusque moverunt. Patere tua consilia non sentis?

 Do not the night guards placed on the Palatine Hill -- do not the watches posted throughout the city—does not the alarm of the people, and the union of all good men -- does not the precaution taken of assembling the senate in this most defensible place -- do not the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, have any effect upon you?

nihilne—moverunt? “Have the guards nightly stationed on the Palatine nothing daunted you? Nothing, the sentinels of the city; nothing, the trepidation of the people; nothing, the thronging together of all patriotic (citizens); nothing, this most impregnable place for convening the Senate; nothing, the countenances and looks of these?”

 Observe the emphatic position of nihil in the beginning of successive clauses (anaphora). —Palatii: the Palatine hill was adjacent to the Forum. It was here that Augustus built a splendid mansion: hence our word palace from the residence of the emperor built on the Palatium. In times of danger the Palatium, one of the most important military posts of the city, was occupied by a guard. Originally the word meant the “feeding place:” root pal, pascere: cp. Pales, Palilia. Varro derives it from pal, “to wander:” cp. palor. It may have been the “common” for cattle in early days. Vigiliae: under the republic, on emergencies, the triumviri capitales, aediles or tribuni plebis acting as a kind of police appointed night watches to keep order.

—timor populi: cp. Sallust. Cat.: C. 31: immutata urbis facies erat: ex summa laetitia atque lascivia ... repente omnes tristitia invasit. —bonorum omnium: with bonus: cp. ἀγαθός, often used in the sense of “patriotic,” opposed to malus civis, κακός: “unpatriotic.”

 —locus: the Senate was usually convened on the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month, and the meeting usually held in the Curia Hostilia. Extraordinary meetings (senatus indictus) as the present one were convened in some temple, or other place consecrated by the augurs. The present meeting was held in the temple of Juppiter Stator, near the via sacra, at the foot of the Palatine, which might be said to be munitissimus from the special guard there as well as from its position. —ora vultusque: the former denotes the natural and habitual state, as expressed by the mouth and the lower part of the face: while the latter indicates the temporary and changing state, as expressed by the motion of the eye and brow.

 

Constrictam omnium horum scientia teneri conjurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris?

Do you not feel that your plans are detected? Do you not see that your conspiracy is already arrested and rendered powerless by the knowledge which every one here possesses of it? What is there that you did last night, what the night before -- where is it that you were -- who was there that you summoned to meet you -- what design was there which was adopted by you, with which you think that any one of us is unacquainted?

constrictam—vides: “do you not see that your conspiracy has already come within the privity of all these?” literally, “is held bound by.” Orelli distinguishes between non and nonne in direct questions. Where non is used, the speaker, sure of his opinion, does not heed the answer of the opponent; where nonne is used, the speaker expects and wishes that the person questioned will agree with him.

—constrictam teneri: the metaphor is taken from chaining a wild beast to which he here compares the conspiracy.

proxima: this speech was delivered November 8th: so nox proxima would be the night of 7th: nox superior, the night of the 6th, also called nox prior, § 8. On this occasion they were at the house of M. Porcius Laeca. What they did on the nox proxima we are not informed.

—egeris, fueris, convocaveris, ceperis: subjunctive of dependent question: H. 529, I.

nostrûm: distinguish nostrum used partitively and nostri used possessively.
 

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First Oration 02

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